11:10am Thursday 9th September 2010
By Matthew Hobbs
A LOVE rat accused of murdering his wife after she found out about his affair on Facebook contacted her mother after her death to ask what her daughter would like for Christmas, a court has heard.
Michael Roberts, aged 26, is currently on trial at Liverpool Crown Court for strangling to death his wife of five months, Victoria Wynne-Jones, at their home on Partington Close, Daresbury, in November last year. He denies murder.
The court heard that Roberts cheated on Vicky numerous times, during their engagement and and following their wedding.
Two days after returning from his honeymoon in June 2009, he visited first mistress Kerrie Hall.
The two had been meeting twice a week to have ‘rough sex’, according to Ms Hall, before the relationship ended in September.
An affair with Phones 4 U work colleague Karen Wilson followed in October, which Vicky found out about, but she decided to fight for their marriage, according to David Steer QC, prosecuting.
Roberts, however, covered his tracks in a web of deceit, lying to both Ms Wilson and his wife, the court was told, and the affair continued – even after Vicky’s alleged murder.
Ms Wilson has since visited the defendant in prison following his arrest.
After telling Ms Wilson that his marriage was over on November 21, the husband and wife went to dinner at the defendant’s parents’ house on November 29, the night Vicky died.
The court heard how the couple, who met while working at the Warrington branch of Ikea in 2006, left to watch Top Gear together at their third floor flat in Daresbury later that evening.
According to Mr Steer, Roberts then strangled Vicky with the tie from her dressing gown, killing her.
He claims, however, that his wife’s death was accidental and they had been taking part in a sex game that went wrong.
The court heard how, after her death, Roberts sent numerous texts, supposedly from Vicky to friends, colleagues and family, saying that she had left him for another man.
He told ‘love of his life’ Ms Wilson that Vicky had taken her clothes and passport and left him, a lie he later repeated to her parents.
On November 30, the day after he allegedly killed his wife, Roberts called Vicky’s mother, according to Mr Steer, to ask her opinion on what he should buy her daughter for a Christmas present.
“He asked her mother if she had any ideas. He said he would visit in the week to show what he had bought for her,” said Mr Steer.
The next day Roberts was caught on CCTV at B&Q at Winwick, buying duct tape and insulation sheets.
Police discovered Vicky’s body in the garage of the couple’s flat at Partington Close on December 3, four days after her death. It was wrapped in silver sheets and covered with an orange duvet.
The court heard that Roberts had moved his wife’s body down three levels of a communal area to get her there. He escaped arrest and went on the run for two days before officers arrested him in Wrexham on December 6.
Throughout the hearing Roberts wept and repeatedly needed to use an inhaler.
He was also seen to block his ears when details of a letter written after his arrest was read out in court. It read ‘When I lost Vicky I lost a part of me’.
Defending, Neil Flewitt QC said that the death was accidental and that the defendant wanted to save his marriage and always talked about Vicky to his friends.
He said: “Talking about his wife was a constant topic of conversation.
“I don’t think there was ever a time he spoke about her in an unkind way.
“He loved her but wasn’t in love with her. He wanted to save the marriage.”
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